Reading Over Shoulders
Yes, I'm still reading over your shoulder.
Danielle Leigh’s Reading Diary at Comics Should Be Good contains Hero Tales volume 1.
I can’t really follow all of this rant on the Brave and the Bold (ha, I totally wrote the Bold and the Beautiful at first) but you might like it.
I really enjoyed Solanin so I’m excited to get the manga-ka’s latest set of short stories even if, as Matthew Brady says, it isn’t as good.
Kate Dacey reviews Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu -the title that my comic book store was supposed to be ordering for me over a month ago! What the hell?
Wild Animals vol. 1-2 review
Set in the turmoil of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Wild Animals is the memory of Ma Xiaojun. In volume 1, the memories are solid. He is sixteen, young, impressionable and plays at violence. He and his friends talk of the revolution but it hardly touches them as they try to bridge the gap between childhood and their impending adult lives. It is during this time that Xiaojun meets the beautiful Mi Lan. Mi Lan quickly becomes the central focus of their gang and of Xiaojun’s thoughts. He becomes obsessed but doesn’t quite know what to do with himself.
In volume 2, the memories begin to fall apart. The adult Xiaojun interjects with his thoughts and questions himself. The memories become more painful, is this why Xiaojun rejects them? Mi Lan falls for the popular and good looking Gau Pu. Xiaojun immaturely answers this rejection by treating Mi Lan cruelly. Finally, he lashes out in a violent and desperate attack. Or does he? Adult Xiaojun insists this couldn’t have really happened, that it was just the imagination of an adolescent boy.
The pain and joy so often present in good coming of age stories is felt here too. Xiaojun’s desire to be accepted drives him to commit small crimes, lie to his father and fight Mi Lan. By the second volume though, the coming of age theme gives way to a darker truth – that not everyone makes it. Some fall behind, some commit crimes they can never make up for or move past. So goes the memory of Xiaojun. Whether his memory is real or a figment of his imagination is left up to the reader but one thing is very clear, Xiaojun saw himself as a good soldier and a good friend and he aches when he fails at both of those.
Friendship is all the boys underneath Mao have. Their parents are off at war, leaving them alone for weeks at a time. The boys bond and live off each other. The friendship they have is both touching and eery.
The stunning art follows Xiaojun’s memories, very crisp and clear when he’s absolutely sure of a memory, bright and sunny when it’s one he treasures, hazy and dark when it’s one that brings him pain. Then descends into a mess of lines and squiggles with barely recognizable human shapes when he questions if the memory is even real. Mi Lan is given special attention, showing up in portraits caught in time. Beautiful and sensual, even adult Xiaojun is charmed and lavishes in her memory, letting the story stop so he can sit with her for a bit longer.
Wild Animals is an adaptation of the novel Days of Dazzling Sunshine. Artist Song Yang is hailed as a prodigy and lives up to his title here. He expresses his love for the story in his artist’s preface but his work can easily stand as its own piece. It is the sort of book that graphic novels readers love, a good story told with beautiful pictures that can be read in many different ways.
Reading Over Shoulders
Hey, can I share your pumkin-spice latte?
The Manga Critic has a couple of posts – first a few reviews and then a list of truly bad manga.
There’s a new Evangelion installment. I’m not sure how I feel about all of these reimaginings. (link via MangaBlog)
Speaking of manga, go get yourself some! Go Gomi is running a pretty big sale.
Comics Should Be Good sparked a lively discussion with this review of Dark Reign.
A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge sounds really powerful. (link via Journalista)
Review – Ikigami
A child is full of potential. That’s partly why we cherish them so much. In Ikigami: the Ultimate Limit, the government has developed a vaccine that can protect the population from every single known disease. However, to keep the citizens appreciation for life, a small percentage of vaccines kill the child before he or she turns 25. A day before their death, a man delivers an ikigami or death card to the victim. Fujimoto delivers these cards. Unfortunately, Ikigami is a lot like a child just full of potential. It never grows into anything more.
I would be willing to accept that a government would do this except it seems so pointless. People can still die of random acts. Also, generally, an appreciation for life comes with age. So killing children and young adults might hurt the families of those children but I would think that the surviving population would only feel relief that they had survived, not necessarily a new appreciation for life. Having the vaccine kill-switch triggered between 25 and 40 makes more sense. However, the book does focus on the devastation the ikigami brings to the families so I guess I’ll try and move past this nagging plot point.
Fujimoto begins to question the practice but has to be careful because the big bad government kills anyone who questions them. Of course they do. In volume 1, Fujimoto delivers an ikigami to a bitter loser who promptly goes off the deep end and extracts revenge on his highschool tormentors. The story is designed to show the potential problems with alerting someone to their death; they’ve got nothing to lose. However, the overblown artwork makes it seem like the man was a psycho and it was only a matter of time before he went off anyway. In fact, his advice to a young child is ‘go off now, don’t wait’. Confusing.
In the second story a street musician duo is separated when one is tapped for stardom and the other isn’t. The would-be star receives an ikigami and decides to reconnect, in his last seconds, with his true soul. He sings a song the duo wrote and that song brings his friend out of a coma. Then Fujimoto begins to wonder if the ikigami isn’t such a bad thing but a gift that allows people to really live.
There’s a lot of unnecessary information about how the vaccine is made and how it’s recipients are kept secret. This extraneous information illustrates what’s wrong with Ikigami. There’s too much thought. Instead of being a story about human experience and limits of life, it becomes a commentary on government, crime, art, and duty. That’s too much. The artwork is also overdone. At times the characters look like they are in a Pokemon battle as opposed to dealing with a revelation (albeit an awful one). Tears pour over dramatically, veins bulge. These conventions don’t heighten the tension, they just take the reader out of the story.
I can see the potential in Ikigami because it’s not a bad idea. The format of a big story tied together by stort stories leaves the door open for lots of different emotions and themes. Unfortunately, nothing comes together in any tangible way. It’s not a bad but it’s certainly not good. Oh, and another nagging point that maybe someone can help me figure out. On the first page it says the elementary school is in Angleton, Texas yet all the children and teachers are Japanese. What’s the deal? Is this something that was changed for Western readers? If so, why?
Reading Over Shoulders
Is is safe to speak yet?
Ellen Hopkins has placed her Manifesto against censorship up on her blog. It even includes a stanza from her poem for Banned Books Week. I love Banned Books week, it’s so…naughty 
In case you didn’t catch it on her blog, Ellen will be speaking this coming Tuesday at Hillsdale Free Will College in Moore – 7:30 p.m. I really enjoy mad authors, they can say the best things when they are mad. Smack us around a bit Ellen!! If you didn’t see my last post, definitely read the comments where fellow librarian and blogger, Kitty Pittman talks about some truly frightening statistics.
Whew, ok moving onward – Bleeding Cool gives you an idea of how much those Deadpool comics are going for since there’s going to be a movie.
Since I can’t get my comic book shop to freaking GET LITTLE FLUFFY GIGALO PELU ALREADY, I may have to just settle for Best Erotic Comics:2009 which features one of Junko Mizuno’s stories. Scott Miller has a review. (link via Journalista)
Queen and Country vol. 1 – review
I’ve always thought working as a spy would suck. In my mind, it’s hours of boredom followed by five minutes of full blown terror. Turns out, at least according to Greg Rucka’s series Queen and Country, I’m right! Tara Chace is a British “minder”, a spy for SIS. Her job includes assassinations, intelligence gathering and visiting foreign countries. It sounds glamorous but Chace’s alcohol consumption suggests otherwise. Surrounding Chace are her friends and coworkers. Along with the two other minders, she watches as the powers that be play with their lives. On one hand, she’s angry at being used more like a machine than a human. On the other hand, she begs for every mission, often getting upset when she’s overlooked.
The missions are exciting and nerve racking. This isn’t a Lara Croft video game, there’s no guarantee that any of the minders (including Chace) will make it out alive. While the minders take care of the dirty work, politics are the game back home. It makes for a compelling look at espionage. Rucka manages to avoid melodrama or cheesy action cliches. His spies are real shells of people, hollowed out and hungry for a job that will eventually, inevitably kill them – even if they physically live to retirement.
Yes, it’s depressing. Yet, it’s hard to stop reading. Much of the “boring” parts, the sitting around waiting for the five minutes of terror, are actually the most interesting. It’s in these down times that the reader gets to see the relationships between Tara and the other characters.
The missions do get a bit redundant. That is probably the point but it makes it hard to read for long. I found myself getting annoyed at yet another mission with yet another round of worry, anger, acceptance and fallout. It’s nice to have the series collected in volumes but a break between missions is needed and probably worked great when they came out individually. The different artists offer different takes on the cast and each one reveals something new about the character, whether drawn as a sexual creature for her attempt at love or drawn in hard lines, with small eyes, when she’s taking on the job of a killer.
I’m onto volume 2 (well, after I finish my latest volume of Monster) with some trepidation. If volume 1 is any indication, things will only get tougher.
Incidentally, Rucka’s comic Whiteout is now a movie!
Reading Over Shoulders
Man, what a slow news week.
Warren Peace Sings the Blues gives a very thoughtful and thorough review of Asterios Polyp.
Comics Should be Good finds one that isn’t, X-Men Misfits. This post includes really good commentary on shojo manga in general.
I normally don’t link to individual comic reviews but the artwork in this one has me so intrigued that I can’t resist – Robot 6 introduces me to Sweet Tooth #1.
Fables Vol. 12 – The Dark Ages review
I’m going to try and do this without any spoilers. Emphasis on try because, like most of the Fables stories, the plot is an integral part of the story. In the last volume, the war ended and lots of us were left going “that was it? seriously? ok….what comes next?” Usually the war is it, the big payoff followed by bittersweet burying of your dead and series done. Except this is Fables and there’s always more, thank god.
Turns out the war is really the beginning. The powers that be didn’t truly think through the consequences of this war. Geppetto, former big bad Adversary, tries to tell them but since he’s a known tyrant they ignore him. Then it happens. I’m not going to tell you what “it” is of course but, trust me, it’s pretty bad.
As usual, the writing is awesome, pushing the story forward while leaving time to develop the characters. The artwork is still stunning, especially the use of color and movement. One of my favorite things about Fables is the political strife. In this volume a group calling themselves the Society of Seconds (first generation Fables born in America) demand passage into the homelands. What they want is somewhat ridiculous, as the homelands aren’t anywhere near safe, yet also speaks to the disconnection first-generation immigrants have.
If I have one complaint, it’s emotional fatigue. I’m worn out, I’ve been through a war for gods sake! Can’t I take a break? One volume where maybe Snow White and Bigby take a vacation in the homeland? Let us see how it’s rebuilding or a journey East to see some different fables?
Reading Over Shoulders
What's my name again?
There’s a review of Jennifer’s Body up at Bleeding Cool. Apparently this is based on a movie starring Megan Fox? I wasn’t aware of it but the novel looks cooler. I don’t know, if you’re a straight man, you might disagree.
Here’s an interesting review of First Second’s upcoming Ball Peen Hammer. (link via Journalista)
David Welsh takes a look a Nightschool, a title I’m currently enjoying in Yen Press.
Lots of people are talking about Ooku but I’m not sure if I’m sold on it yet. Here’s Kate Dacey’s review.
I may not know about Ooku but this review at Warren Peace makes me want to read Ikigami.
Back to Work/End of Summer Reading
I’m back at work! It’s kind of weird but believe me, I’m relishing the time to drink a cup of coffee and read my email without worrying I’m going to spill on the baby’s head or get my computer torn down by the toddler.
This may be shocking to some but maternity leave is no vacation! Still I did get to squeeze in a few manga these past couple months. Here’s how I felt about them:
Bride of the Water God Vol. 2
I had heard that the second volume doesn’t necessarily improve. The character development is still minimal, the plot is full of holes and the dialogue is laughable. Still, the artwork makes up for everything. I don’t care how insipid Habaek and Soah continue to be, if they wear those gorgeous clothes while flying past the moon in an elaborate ship, I will eat it up.
Uzumaki Vol. 2
There’s very little “horror” that I can’t handle. Uzumaki is pushing the limit. In this twisted (pun intended) volume, the terror is pushed up as the town possessed by a spiral, uh, spirals downward. I warn you, it’s seriously disturbing but brillant. The only thing that bothers me is that the townspeople have yet to figure out what’s going on. You would think that after multiple frightening incidents, including people morphing in snails for godsake, the folks would learn to stay away from anything strange or believe others when they relate that something is wrong – ah, but no.
Pluto Vol. 1
I should have read this title first. I’m a huge fan of Monster and was thrilled to see a couple of series by Naoki Urasawa. My comic book guy recommended it over 20th Century Boys, saying it was different than Monster and would make a nice change. Based on a single Astro Boy story, “The Greatest Robot on Earth”, Pluto takes the concept of a robot murdering serial killer and expands the world to a completely new level. There is obviously a lot of care and reverence to the master, Osamu Tezuka. I’m not sure why I resisted, perhaps because Astro Boy is my least favorite Tezuka title? Whatever the reason, I’m glad I finally got around to it.
So there you have it, my summer reading. Another good reason to return to work? The copies of Queen & Country and A Drifting Life on my desk!
